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Two late goals give Flames victory in wild and wacky night at the Saddledome

Iginla and Glencross score in final 83 seconds as Calgary fends off Phoenix 5-4 for second-straight win

Calgary Flames right winger Tim Jackman, left, and left winger Steve Begin celebrate after Jackman opened the scoring for the local NHL squad on Sunday night.

Photograph by: Colleen De Neve
, Calgary Herald

Perhaps it’s understandable. Given the frantic dying minutes — heck, given all of the minutes on this particular night — maybe it’s no shock that Jarome Iginla wasn’t sure what the final score had been.

Yes, he knew his Calgary Flames had edged the Phoenix Coyotes in National Hockey League action Sunday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.Yes, he knew their buzzer-beating flourish spelled the difference.

But the exact count? Sheesh. Who knows?

“Literally, you could have told me it was 4-3 or 5-4 — it was a flurry,” Iginla, beaming, said after the, ahem, 5-4 decision. “This game was one that could’ve gone a lot of different ways.

“Back and forth . . . it was one of those games you don’t see every day. Just a wild game.”

Lee Stempniak, who managed to provide the result (“I think it was 5-4 — is that correct?”), quite rightly pointed out what mattered most.

“I knew we were down by one, tied it up, won by one, so it was a great win,” said Stempniak. “You take your two points any way you can get them. But after a game like that, everyone’s riding high.”

A mere 135 seconds after the national anthems, Tim Jackman staked the locals to the lead — his first goal since Dec. 29, 2011, on Long Island. And that wasn’t even close to being the night’s weirdest occurrence.

Because it got stranger ...

For instance, Matt Stajan, in the process of escaping the penalty box, stick-checked Keith Yandle — and got two minutes for interference.

For instance, the subsequent power-play marker to Michael Stone, whose point shot bounced off Mark Giordano, then was kicked past a luckless Joey MacDonald by Jay Bouwmeester.

For instance, these squads erupting for three goals in five minutes — Raffi Torres, on a wonderful pass from Matthew Lombardi; Iginla, who coerced the puck past an uncharacteristically porous Mike Smith; Michael Cammalleri, whose wicked drive gave the Flames a 3-2 lead with 35 seconds remaining in the second period.

Because Iginla — who entered the night with two goals in his previous 27 games — tallied in back-to-back periods, the second one at 18:37, making it 4-4.

It, too, was hardly a classic.

“Great pass (from Alex Tanguay) . . . it went off the top of my stick,” said Iginla. “It went from being, ‘Oh my god,’ and it hit me in the belly or something and went in. Tangs would have been a little (mad) at me if that one didn’t go in.”

So overtime? As if.

Glencross screamed home the game-winner at 19:00.

“A wacky game,” said Iginla. “A lot of different things. Different goals. Different flurries. It was fun. I imagine we’re a little happier than they are. An ugly game and we found a way to win.”

The late-game heroics gave the Flames a four-point boost in the Western Conference standings in a span of 24 hours, which is enough to get their record level, 7-7-3.

“Two wins in front of our home fans this weekend,” said Hartley, whose team Saturday dumped the Minnesota Wild 3-1. “It’s a good reward for our players and for our fans at the same time.”

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